16 Maggio 2007

Buona Sera,

Now I really have to repent because I realize that it's my fault that I haven't been getting any emails... my inbox was full to the max and I didn't know that if that was the case, mail being sent doesn't reach me. Va bene. So again, this week, I didn't get any email. Sorry if you sent email this week. I really don't know if I'll ever get it! I'll be sure to have my inbox empty for next week!

I LOVED talking to Mom, Dad, and Andy on Mother's Day! It was so fun to be able to hear your voices. I wish I could have talked to all of the fam....maybe I can talk to more of you when I call home next time during Christmas. : ) Sounds like plans are being made for when Dad, Mom, and Andy come home. Crazy! I can't believe 3 years has flown by so extremely fast.

So, another transfer is starting. Transfer number 4 for me. As one of our transfer goals we decided to try and do an all-transfer "syl" or "speak your language." That means we only speak Italian. There's a couple exceptions like when we teach our african friends in English, or obviously when I teach English class, but other than that...it's Italian! It's hard but it's the perfect time to do it seeing as I don't have an american companion with english as her mother tongue. Hopefully it will help a lot!

Highlight of the week, besides talking to the fam, was having our investigators Rossella and Salvatore come to church with their two kids. I sat by them and helped them with the hymns, sacrament, etc. Luckily nothing too strange or akward happened during the meeting... like some crazy member talking about space doctrine or anything. The young men gave talks on the importance of the priesthood and did awesome. Our members were pretty good at welcoming them and introducing themselves.

Salvatore is very much a people person and was talking with people. Rossella is a little more reserved and had to drag Salvatore out afterword. We had a lesson with them yesterday and brought another member with us, our branch mission leader, Fratello Furia. We asked them about how they liked church etc. They said it was definitely different from the catholic mass and that it was fine. We then taught a little bit about the plan of salvation with them. They were in agreeance with just about everything we taught. There's always such a great spirit in their house. Rossella is just so attached to her catholic church though. Somehow we've just got to pry her fingers from her "kung fu death grip"... or whatever it is that ben stiller says in that movie, hehe, and help her realize that this change will do her good! And I know that this can only be done through the spirit. It truly is the converter in the conversion process. We'll see them next week like usual!

A little miracle is that we ran into Petra and her family. We've had a heck of a time trying to set up an appointment with them. So on our way to the lesson with Rossella and Salvatore we meet them and talked with Larry. They've just been so busy with school and work. But we got the appointment and are excited to meet with them. I hear that she wants to be baptized this month so we'll see.

Today we went to Firenze for P-day. It was a little crazy. We split up and some who wanted to pay went and saw the uffizzi museum. We didn't want to go and the two new elders in our district straight from the MTC didn't want to wait for an hour to get in either. So I turned into the tour guide for those who didn't want to see the museum and took them to the Duomo and then walked across the river and up to Piazza Michaelangelo. It was fine but there's just tooooo many tourists now in Firenze. We get stopped every 10 minutes by members on vacation who say..."look, it's the missionaries!" It's cool but it just takes us forever to get anywhere! So tip... if you're ever in Italy or some other famous tourist spot and see the missionaries... lasciate stare per piacere! :) (I think that means "leave them alone please! - Ell)

This upcoming week should be great and busy. Friday we are spending the afternoon doing exchanges with the Firenze sisters! And then Saturday we get to go work in Siena because there are lots of inactive women members and no sister missionaries in Siena. We'll go this once with Sorella Roper because she knows the work and then after that Sorella Lederer and I will probably go a couple other times during the next 5 weeks. Also we have Zone Conference coming up. Lots of traveling but I'm excited!

I hope you are all doing great. I know you're all busy with kids, school, etc etc. Just know that my prayers are with you all! I love this work. I'm so grateful for this opportunity to learn, grow, serve, and strengthen my testimony and try to help others do the same. Thanks for all your great examples. And I invite you all to look and pray for your own missionary experiences! It truly brings a joy that's hard to describe!

Love ya,

Sorella Boynton